Volume 1

Health lectures for the people.

Date:
1883-1892
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Health lectures for the people. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    dous difference due ? I answer, without hesitation, to the insufficient lung space in our towns. I do not think that we should altogether selfishly overlook in this consideration the surrounding proprietors who have been content with a smaller return, and who have erected villas, and semi- detached houses, with garden ground and air space. Are the occupiers of these villas to have no consideration shown them i This, then, is an evil. You ask the remedy ? All feuing plans should pass through the hands of that most important committee, the Public Health Committee, before they are passed. Now, as regards the buildings themselves, they are under the control of the Dean of Guild Court. This Court is to my mind too much under the finger and thumb of the builders. We ap- point builders to watch our builders. I for one would like to see fewer builders on it. Our Edinburgh houses are generally sound. Are they always as sanitary as they should be ? Public opinion is now beginning to have its say on this matter, and builders are beginning to find out that many people are chary of occupying houses with distinct sanitary errors. As you are well aware, of late years building was overdone. Now, however, the demand is equal to the supply. A few years ago the demand exceeded the supply, and rows and blocks of houses were erected for the middle classes with all the sanitary water arrangements in the centre of the house. At any time a similar demand may arise, nay, will arise, if our Provost's anticipations with regard to the growth of the rental are correct; and this mischievous water centrality will again be the rule. Place the water closets in the centre of the house, carry necessarily the soil pipe down the centre of the the position of the rural districts, where we know that except for out-door occupations, the means of health are not greater than in large towns ; and we must not forget that a very considerable proportion of town members of Benefit Societies are also employed in out-door occupation. The average excess during the best years of life, say from twenty to fifty, is about 36*58 per cent., and seeing that members of Friendly Societies are a select class, we may safely conclude that the sickness of the outsiders, especially in large towns, is much greater. (Manchester Health Lectures, Series 1878-79, No. 7. The Loss of Wealth by the Loss of Health, by John Watt, Ph.D.)
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